Shutdown Student Loans for Feds Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5843 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5843

 To provide Federal student loan borrower relief for Federal employees.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 28, 2025

Ms. Elfreth (for herself, Mr. Carson, Mr. Figures, Mr. Ivey, Ms. Lee of 
Pennsylvania, Mr. Mfume, Ms. Norton, Mr. Olszewski, and Mr. Walkinshaw) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                        Education and Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide Federal student loan borrower relief for Federal employees.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Shutdown Student Loans for Feds 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FEDERAL STUDENT LOAN BORROWER RELIEF FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) the term ``agency'' means each authority of the 
        executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of 
        the United States; and
            (2) the term ``covered individual''--
                    (A) means an employee of an agency, without regard 
                to whether the employee is, during a period during 
                which there is a lapse in appropriations with respect 
                to the agency--
                            (i) determined to be an excepted employee 
                        or an employee performing emergency work, as 
                        those terms are defined by the Office of 
                        Personnel Management; or
                            (ii) subject to furlough;
                    (B) includes a contractor who--
                            (i) as part of the ordinary job duties of 
                        the individual, provides support to any 
                        employee described in subparagraph (A); and
                            (ii) during a lapse in appropriations with 
                        respect to the applicable agency, does not 
                        provide the services described in clause (i); 
                        and
                    (C) does not include an individual described in 
                subparagraph (A) or (B) who, during a period during 
                which there is a lapse in appropriations with respect 
                to the applicable agency, is paid the basic pay 
                ordinarily payable to the individual.
    (b) Relief.--During any period in fiscal year 2026 or any 
subsequent fiscal year during which there is a lapse in appropriations 
of not less than 14 days with respect to an agency, the Secretary of 
Education shall suspend all payments due by covered individuals for 
loans made under part D of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 1087a et seq.).
    (c) No Accrual of Interest.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.), interest 
shall not accrue on a loan described under subsection (b) for which 
payment was suspended for the period of the suspension.
    (d) Consideration of Payments.--Notwithstanding any other provision 
of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.), the 
Secretary shall deem each month for which a loan payment was suspended 
under this section as if the borrower of the loan had made a payment 
for the purpose of any loan forgiveness program authorized under part D 
of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087a et 
seq.) for which the borrower would have otherwise qualified.
    (e) Reporting to Consumer Reporting Agencies.--During the period in 
which the Secretary suspends payments on a loan under subsection (b), 
the Secretary shall ensure that, for the purpose of reporting 
information about the loan to a consumer reporting agency, any payment 
that has been suspended is treated as if it were a regularly scheduled 
payment made by a covered individual.
    (f) Retroactive Effective Date.--
            (1) In general.--This Act shall take effect as if enacted 
        on September 30, 2025.
            (2) Refunds.--The Secretary of Education may issue a refund 
        for any loan payment made by a covered individual--
                    (A) for a loan made under part D of title IV of the 
                Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087a et seq.) 
                during any period in fiscal year 2026 or any subsequent 
                fiscal year during which there is a lapse in 
                appropriations of not less than 14 days with respect to 
                the agency at which the individual is an employee; and
                    (B) if requested by such covered individual.
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